"U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi, you ugly." The human pain and suffering piled up in our society from such comments, over the years, has been high. Rejections, distasteful comments, unjust decisions, second-class citizenship rights are all part of the disrespectful treatment that many people still experience. As a human family, we are still some distance away from 'liberty and justice for all.' To some people we give accolades, to others we give putdowns. Like joking with an Iranian or Indian boy, "Don't your parents own the 7-Eleven?" or calling the slow kid a "retard." This is sometimes nothing more than a battle for power and position…a way of placing ourselves­or keeping ourselves­above others in the social order.
Deciding that somebody doesn't deserve equal rights or good treatment is a tricky matter. In ages past, people making those judgments often had "personal" biases rather than sound reasons guiding their decisions. They slammed others as being 'lazy, no-good, bloodsucking, immoral, lying, stealing pigs' or some such terminology. Today, our society battles against all forms of continuing discrimination…age, sexual, racial, personal style and more. As we become aware of our own tendencies toward favoring certain kinds of people, we can identify with even the worst examples around us.
In the "Soup Nazi" scenes, Elaine is sure she will not suffer the same rejection that George experienced. Why? Because she's a woman? Or, maybe because she's a smooth talker? In any case, she feels confident enough to defy the soupmaker's normal rules for ordering soup in his restaurant. She takes her sweet time in ordering, to the point where he gets mad and demands that she leave…with no soup for her trouble! As Elaine leaves, she remarks to George that she's thinking of contacting authorities with a claim of discrimination. Ever felt like that? All of us have been touched by at least one form of discrimination, at some time.
